STRATHAM — The piglets gave the kids a run for their money during the popular pig scramble event at the 47th annual Stratham Fair on Saturday afternoon.

Madison Cavarretta, 12, of Stratham said she was "getting really tired" chasing the piglets around in one of two heats.

"I never thought I'd get one," she said.

Madison said she'd name the piglet Penelope if it was a girl and Paul if it was a boy. While she never owned a pig before, she had plans to build a little shelter for it in her yard and had studied a 4-H diagram on caring for a pig.

"This is the best day ever," she declared.

Allison Claar Vaillancourt of Dover was the organizer of the annual pig scramble that draws a lot of applications from children 8 to 12 with their parents' consent.

"We have seven piglets and will draw the names of 14 kids to participate," she said. "The kids have to take care of the pigs, and when it's time, bring them to the butcher."

Vaillancourt said when the event first started, it was for only children involved in 4-H clubs, but it is now open to the public.

"The kids have to understand that they are taking the pig home and raising it," she said.

The town's volunteer firefighters sponsored the event and paid for the pigs. This year, some of the 8-week-old pigs were male. The seller said the winners of the male pigs could come back to his farm to have them altered.

The kids were split into two groups of seven, with names being called out by Stephanie Iacuzio, the newly crowned Miss Stratham Fair. The first group had four pigs to chase after; the second group had just three.

A team of judges were on hand to pick up the pigs after each child caught one and families had until 6 p.m. to come back to pick up the pigs in a container like a little dog carrier.

Noah Johnson, 8, of Stratham was one happy pig-catcher. His mom, April, said her father grew up on a farm and would be thrilled to know Noah now had a pig to raise.